Hating Women: America's Hostile Campaign Against the Fairer Sex [Hardcover]

Shmuley Boteach (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2005

"I have been stunned to see the growing misogyny in our culture, and even more shocked to see how little women seem to care about their degradation."

--Shmuley Boteach, in HATING WOMEN

Even a cursory look at our popular culture reveals an alarming trend of misogyny. Look closer, and it becomes clear that men alone are not to blame; women themselves are playing into the hands of the money-grubbing, morally bankrupt, sex-obsessed culture that is exploiting them as the ultimate cheap commodity. Shmuley Boteach, the bestselling author and leading national radio host, is all for women embracing their feminine power, but he observes that many women are, if effect, doing just the opposite. Paris Hilton actively exposes her flesh and ignorance in equal parts. Pop music princesses like Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson rely far more on shameless exhibitionism than musical talent. And look at all the reality television shows -- from "The Bachelor," "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" and "Average Joe" to "Extreme Makeover" -- that boost their ratings by portraying women as viciously competitive, desperate for celebrity and riches, imbecilic and ignorant, and all too eager to serve themselves up as generic eye-candy for men. Meanwhile, girls and women across the country are following this lead.

In ages past, women were venerated for their nobility, dignity, grace, inner strength, and nurturing qualities, but contemporary society is rapidly reversing those ideals -- as well as all the social progress that women have made in recent decades. Today, women typically confuse freedom and power for promiscuity and exploitation, and allow men to treat them as objects of sexual gratification -- not as admirable human beings who have the ability to elevate the whole of society.

In HATING WOMEN, Boteach asserts that four vulgar archetypes of women have come to saturate our culture: the Greedy Gold Digger, the Publicity Seeking Prostitute, the Brainless Bimbo, and the Backstabbing Bitch. But the nefarious archetypes don't stop with women; they breed and encourage four equally offensive types of men: the Crotch-Scratcher, the Harem Gatherer, the Selfish Spouse, and the Porn Addict. Misogyny, in the guise of entertainment, is reaching a fever pitch, and we are on the verge of a social crisis.

Boteach envisions a way to correct this downward spiral -- which he sees as far more than just a feminist issue. Now is the time, he says, for men to start respecting women and for women to start respecting themselves. Women must band together and fight back for their rightful place of honor. For anyone who has ever wondered where our popular culture is taking us, HATING WOMEN is at once an electrifying social commentary and a clarion call for change.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestselling relationship rabbi Boteach, author of Kosher Sex, pillories our lewd, misogynistic, unladylike age in this vigorous jeremiad. From the Internet to reality TV to Girls Gone Wild videos, Boteach observes, popular culture portrays women as "Greedy Gold Diggers," "Publicity-seeking Prostitutes," "Brainless Bimbos" or "Back-stabbing Bitches" epitomized by the likes of Paris Hilton and the "vulgar and crass degenerates, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera." Boteach blames feminism-not for demanding equal rights, but for toppling femininity from its position of dignity, refinement and presumed superiority over masculinity and for proclaiming a "farcical notion of equivalence" that pushes women to be as gross and callous as men while depriving them of the moral authority to admonish and correct male loutishness. Because "in a world without ladies there cannot be gentlemen," the result is a "crisis in manhood," as men feel licensed to exploit women and, numbed by pornography, become unable to cherish real women in committed relationships. The author calls for boycotts to punish lewd and degrading depictions of women as well as female celebrities who pose or appear nude, and for a sexual counter-revolution in which women collectively refuse all premarital sex and confiscate their husbands' porn stashes. Readers may find Boteach's Kabbalistic gender mysticism to be essentialist piffle, his tribute to the chivalry of the past naïve, and his idealized conception of women as "seraphs of heaven" for whom "being holy and spiritual... came naturally" confining. Still, his critique of the coarseness and oversexualization of images of women-and, especially, of the misogynistic cast of the contemporary male mindset-should stimulate a needed debate over the tenor of popular culture.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Shmuley Boteach is host of the daily national radio program The Rabbi Shmuley Show on Oprah & Friends and Sirius XM Satellite Radio and host of the award-winning national television show Shalom in the Home on TLC. He is also the international bestselling author of twenty books, including the New York Times bestselling Kosher Sex and Ten Conversations You Need to Have with Your Children. In 2007, Boteach was labeled "a cultural phenomenon" and "the most famous rabbi in America" by Newsweek, and was also named one of the ten most influential rabbis in America. He has been profiled in many of the world's leading publications, including Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, London Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Washington Post. Shmuley and his wife, Debbie, have nine children.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st American edition (April 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006078122X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060781224
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,120,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is one of the world's leading relationship experts and spiritual authorities. His twenty-one books have been bestsellers in seventeen languages, and his award winning syndicated column is read by a global audience of millions. He is the host of TLC's award-winning Shalom in the Home and was Oprah Winfrey's love, marriage, and parenting expert on Oprah and Friends. He served for eleven years as rabbi at Oxford University, where he built the Oxford L'Chaim Society into the University's second largest student organization. Today, Newsweek calls him the most famous rabbi in America. The winner of the highly prestigious London Times Preacher of the Year award, Rabbi Shmuley is also the recipient of the National Fatherhood Award and the American Jewish Press Association's Highest Award for Excellence in Commentary. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, Debbie, and their nine children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kudos to Mr Boteach for loving and supporting women, June 9, 2005

By 

Robin Orlowski "political activist" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hating Women: America's Hostile Campaign Against the Fairer Sex (Hardcover)

I read this book in a bookstore without first realizing that it was authored by a rabbi.

Because I have become so accustomed to religious figures parading their own beliefs as an excuse to oppress women, it was refreshing to hear a man critique the Playboy/Miss America culture which we live in and simultaneously praise the feminist movement for their ongoing work in challenging this culture.

He is explicit in mentioning that the challenging of a woman hating culture has and must continue to include the expansion of women's political and legal rights. He wants to quickly and easily distinguish himself from the social conservatives (religious and otherwise) who bemoan an oversexualized media----and then use their public support to attempt shuttering women back into our homes allegedly where we all belong. Thankfully, Boteach has a different agenda.

Sex sells in America, and this co modification ultimately harms both sexes; we see each other as being possessions to be acquired and used rather than partners and equals. Women however, have historically borne the brunt of this mistreatment and (when compared against world/American history) have only been allowed into the public sphere. He deals with a grim subject matter, but Boteach is optimistic that society can and will change.

I believe that his desire to reach all people with this book is the only reason why Boteach focused on popular culture as opposed to religious images as also oppressing women. Considering this author has lots to say on many issues, a religious perspective on this issue might provide good material for another book.

This book was very readable and actually did give me new things to think about.

36 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Throw out all your other relationship books...., March 10, 2006

By 

May Hunt (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hating Women: America's Hostile Campaign Against the Fairer Sex (Hardcover)

This is the one. After ending a long relationship twelve years ago, I was back in the dating game. After a couple of so-so short term relationships and hundreds of dates, I started to think there was something wrong with me, though in the back of my mind something seemed different about the men I was meeting compared to the men I dated even just a decade or two ago. I bought every relationship book out there, The Rules, Why Men Like Bitches, Mars and Venus, etc., but none of them have made me feel like this book has. This book has finally put into words for me what I've been feeling deep down inside for a long time. Although, I still feel like I may never meet a gentleman, I realize now that's it's not my fault. Most of the other relationship books seem to overtly or subtlety say we (women) need to change somehow to "get" a man. Now this is not a book about how we can "get" a man or is even that encouraging that we may ever meet a real gentleman, but it is a book that finally tells a woman that it's right to expect manners, respect and class from men and although it may be lonely, it's the only real spiritual way to go. Although, I've been dumped for women who will "put out right away", be willing to fight over a womanizer, and in general bend over backwards to attract and keep these creeps, I now feel, after reading this book, that it's ok. I'm better off not stooping to the level of these woman just to get a guy like that. Believe me, there have been many times that I felt tempted and wondered what was wrong with me, was I missing something. There are many woman willing to cross our picket lines, but I do believe as Rabbi Shmuley does, that they lose in the end anyway. In this one book I feel Rabbi Shmuley is giving me the advice that I never really received from my parents or anyone else. It will really change my life.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not anti-men, not anti-women...try anti-media, June 6, 2005

By 

Mackenzie Jennings "text diva" (FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hating Women: America's Hostile Campaign Against the Fairer Sex (Hardcover)

A brilliant voice in this, addressing issues that have affected me, personally and generally. Boteach simply indicates that women are being held to next-to-impossible, fascist, beauty standards, and that the media has turned the image of women into that of giggly, bimbettes who dress like tramps and are expected to be one of The Boys' Club. He discusses the death/decline of chivalry and the gentleman due to a truely bizarre cultural acceptance of the frat-boy image. He indicates the constant pornographic images and slogans that bombard us via junk email, so much so that we've grown immune to it. Boteach even mentions that women are turning to other women for relationships because they're finding themselves unable to turn into that very image men are practically & subliminally forced to desire rather than what they really may want and actually need.

I wish everyone would read this. It's an eye-opener.